For one fleeting moment, Heath worried he’d made a mistake by giving Professor Flamsteed her card now. Had he been too forward? Maybe he shouldn’t have given it to her in front of so many people! Just when he was really starting to get nervous, he felt her squeeze his shoulder. He blinked, unsure how to react, and he noticed her struggling to maintain her composure. Did he do that? At a loss for words, he replied with a nod and a soft smile.

There was another smile for Claudine as she greeted him, but before he could say anything else to her, the lesson began. Hearing the question, his eyes automatically flicked toward the vines, and the wheels in his mind began turning. Since nobody, including the herbology professor, seemed to know what these vines were, it was probably a new kind of plant. Maybe a hybrid of some kind? Then a thought occurred to him. Could these vines be related to Devil’s Snare? They behaved somewhat similarly.

Listening to his classmates’ answers took his thoughts in a slightly different direction. After some careful consideration, he raised his hand and said, “I agree with Violet. It can’t be a coincidence that these vines appeared only after the Board of Governors’ decorating project, which means either someone tricked them into bringing the vines here or…” His voice trailed off before he could finish that sentence. Somehow he didn’t think it would go over well if he brought up the possibility that someone on the Board was in on this. “Never mind,” he continued, trying to change the subject. “I think these vines are a hybrid species of some sort, possibly related to Devil’s Snare.”